In the past, computing applications such as computer games and multimedia applications used controls to allow users to manipulate game characters or other aspects of an application. Typically such controls are input using, for example, controllers, remotes, keyboards, mice, or the like. More recently, computer games and multimedia applications have begun employing cameras and software gesture recognition engines to provide a human computer interface (“HCI”). With HCI, user gestures are detected, interpreted and used to control game characters or other aspects of an application.
In conventional gaming and multimedia applications, users often hold or otherwise interact with an in-game prop, such as for example a racquet, sword, stick, etc. However, these virtual props may have no corresponding real world object, which can often lead a user to feel disconnected from a gaming experience. Additionally, when the in-game prop is itself used to interact with other in-game props, such as an onscreen bat hitting an onscreen ball, having no real world counterpart can make that action more difficult for a user to coordinate.